I 



A Southern Flight 

FRANK DEMPSTER SHERMAN 
CLINTON SCOLLARD 



i 




n 
Book 






COPYRIGHT DEPOSm 



Digitized by the Internet Archive 
in 2010 with funding from 
The Library of Congress 



http://www.archive.org/details/southernflightOOsher 



A Southern Flight 



A Southern Flight 



Frank Dempster Sherman 
Clinton Scollard 



George William Browning 

M DCCCC V 



Copyrighted igo§ by 
Frank Dempster Sherman & Clinton Scollard 



C-cipy 2. 



\'- Two GsBies ?ie«ieEVsC': 

OCT 18 ^905 



CONTENTS 




A Southern Flight 


ix 


A Sea Nocturne 


xi 


Saint Augustine 


xiii 


The Tree Tavern 


XV 


A Song 


xvii 


The Jessamine Bower 


xviii 


A Florida Tulip 


XX 


A Florida Night 


xxii 


At Dusk 


xxiii 


At Fort Marion 


xxiv 


The Cathedral Bells 


XX vi 


The Fortress of San Marco 


xxvii 


Night on the Sea- Wall 


XXV iii 


A Southern Balcony 


xxix 


Dawn in Carolina 


XXX 


To a Mocking Bird 


xxxi 


Night off Hatteras 


xxxii 


The Spell 


xxxiii 


Morning by the Matanzas 


xxxiv 


In Absence 


XXXV 


Song at Daybreak 


xxxvii 


Nocturne 


xxxviii 


Serenades in the South 


xxxix 


Spring Song 


xli 


The Night Voyage 


xliii 


The Message 


xliv 


The Wind in the Palms 


xlv 


At Her Window 


xlvii 


The Silent Day 


xlix 


Longings 


1 


Dorchester Churchyard 


li 


Dorchester Fort 


liii 


A Balcony Song 


liv 


At Twilight 


Iv 


Noontide 


Ivi 


Sunset 


Ivi 


Moonlight 


Ivii 


A Thrush Singing 


Iviii 


Bon Voyage 


lix 



Weary of the Winter s prose. 
Leave it for a little while ; 

Seek the realm of rhyme and rose, 
In the southland^ s sunny smile. 

Find again the joys that came 

With the June and with her sped; 

Find the Summer and the same 
Flawless sapphire overhead. 

She and all her dreams await 
In the Eden of the South ; 

We shall greet her at the gate 
With a red rose in her mouth. 

Winter we shall soon forget, 
For in that enchanted clime 

God to melody has set 

All the sweet of summer-time ! 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



A Southern Flight 

The winter day dragged drearily 

In icy pallidness away 
Before we flung our hawsers free, 

And dropped adown the Bay. 

Then twilight swooped ; the shore grew blind, 
Save where the sunset's gusty pink 

Stained the embattled clouds behind 
The hills of Navesink. 

Soon Barnegat flared out its fire 

As we the purple ridges clomb ; 
Five-Fathom Bank its white desire 

Flashed o'er the fields of foam. 

And ere the dawn broke vermeil-bright 
O'er beryl league on weltering league. 

Shimmered across the void of night 
The star of Assateague. 



i X 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



We dreamed we saw the twin capes pass 
Through shredded fog that worketh dole, 

And caught round stormy Hatteras 
The long Atlantic roll. 

Afar from Lookout and from Fear 
We faced and cleft the flying flaw ; 

Tall Tybee's tower we left a-rear, 
And lonely Ossabaw. 

Then on a morning blithe and bland 

The land, — the longed-for land ! — and, ah. 

Above the tawny dunes of sand 
The palms of Florida ! 

The palms, the sunshine, and the breath 
Of flowers, the sky without a stain ; 

And after winter's dearth and death, 
Summer and life again ! 



H () i: T H K K N FLIGHT 



A Sea Nocturne 

Above the sea in splendor 

The new moon hangs alone, 
A silver crescent slender 

Set in a sapphire zone ; 
Around me breathe the tender, 
Sweet zephyrs of the south : 
Night will not let 
My heart forget 
Her kisses and her mouth. 

The loose sails idly swinging, 

The ship lights' glow and gleam. 
The bell-buoys' muffled ringing, 

Drive all my thoughts to dream,- 
To dream of her voice singing 
The songs I love the best : 
Night will not let 
My heart forget 
Where she has made her nest. 



F. D. 8. X 1 



OUTHEKN FLIGHT 



O Love, where art thou biding 

While hangs this moon on high ? 
Star in the twilight hiding, 

Come forth and light the sky- 
Above the ship slow gliding 
Over the southern sea : 
Night will not let 
My heart forget 
Love's eyes that shine for me ! 



xli 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Saint Augustine 

Quaint old town by the sea 

Under the southern star, 
Sleepy with sun, to me 

Dear as a dream you are ! 

The climbing jasmines bar 
Your balconies with their green ; 

Ever you lure from afar, 
Fair Saint Augustine ! 

Ever you lure when the year 

Over the north-land throws 
A spell that is white and drear, 

A mantle of sleet and snows ; 

Ever your sunset's rose, 
Your water's shifting sheen. 

Beckon the heart that knows 
Fair Saint Augustine ! 

Strange are your narrow streets 

With their dull, half-Spanish air ; 
The palms, and the song that greets 

The ear from the mock-birds there ; 

The slave-mart in the square ; 
And, high o'er the drowsy scene, 

The bells that sound to prayer. 
Fair Saint Augustine ! 



C. 8. X 1 i i 



SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Down by the long sea-wall 

Fondly the lovers stroll ; 
The bell-buoy sends its call 

In from the harbor shoal ; 

The old fort hears the roll 
Of the tide where its ramparts lean,- 

Shell of a far-flown soul, — 
Fair Saint Augustine ! 

Memoried town by the sea, 

Take what little is mine, — 
This strain of melody 

To the palm land from the pine, 

This slender lyric line 
From one whose heart has been 

Thine, and is ever thine. 
Fair Saint Augustine ! 



X 1 V C. 8. 



A SOUTHERN FLICIHT 



The Tree Tavern 

In the Tavern of the Tree, 
Listen to the revelry : 
Mark the merry minstrel there 
Seated in his leafy chair, 
At his cups the whole day long, 
Paying toll with silver-song. 
Every draught he takes is drawn 
From the cellars of the Dawn ; 
Fragrant dew from flowery flasks, 
Amber air from fairy casks 
Brought from Araby, and bright 
With the Orient's golden light; 
All the spice of buds and vines 
Flavors his delicious wines ; 
Is it strange his lyrics hold 
So much of the summer's gold ? 
Rapture of the roses caught. 
Into music deftly wrought; 
Run and ripple of the rills 
All translated in his trills ; 
Every sweet, enchanted thing 
In his gladness made to sing. 



F. D. 8. 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Ah, my mocking-bird, drink on 
Till the happy day is gone ; 
Till the pale moon rising up 
Drops the stars down in your cup ; 
Then to dreams once more, and then 
All the world grows still again ! 



X V 1 F. D. Si 



A HOITTHERN FLIGHT 



A Song 

Under the pendulous plumes of the palm, 
Drowsing, I dream in the odorous calm ; 

Dreams of delight and of rapture 

I capture 
Out of this bower of the bloom and the balm. 

Over me carols a bird on the bough, 
Passionate melody, amorous vow ; 

All of his happy song spells me 

And tells me 
Fly to her, lover^ and speak to her now ! 

Sweetheart, I send you the song of the bird : 
Dared I interpret the message I heard, 

This were the whisper above you, — 

/ love you ! 
This were the music, the secret, the word. 



F. D. 8. X V i 1 



SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



The Jessamine Bower 

I know a bower where the jessamine blows, 
Far in the forest's remotest repose ; 

If once the eyes have beholden 

The g^olden 
Chalices swinging, farewell to the rose ! 

Just at the bloom-burst of dawn is the hour 
God must have fashioned the delicate flower, — 

Wrought it of sunlight, and thrilled it 

And filled it 
With a beguiling aroma for dower. 

Here hath the air an enchantment that seems 
Borne from the bourn of desire and of dreams, — 

Borne from the bourn of youth's longing 

Where, thronging, 
Dwell all love's glories and glamours and gleams. 

Here doth the palm-plume depend and the pine ; 
Here doth the wild-grape distil its dark wine ; 

Here the chameleon, gliding 

And hiding, 
Changes its hues in the shade and the shine. 



X V i i 1 c. 8, 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Luring the lights are that falter and fail, — 
Emerald, amber and amethyst pale. 

Splashes of radiant splendor 

And tender 
Tints as when twilight is deep in a dale. 

By no bold bees are the stillnesses stirred ; 
Scarce is there bubble of song from a bird, 

Save for the turtle-dove's cooing 

And wooing, — 
Rapture without an articulate word. 

Sway on, O censers of bloom and of balm ! 
Sweeten the virginal cloisters of calm ! 

Be there one spot lovely, lonely, 

Where only 
Peace is the priestess, and silence the psalm 



C. 8. X 1 X 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



A Florida Tulip 

Crimson cup, wherein is blent 
Something of the spice and scent 
Hinting of the Orient, 

You remind me 
Of a garden sweet that lies 
Under other summer skies, — 
Of the lips and of the eyes 

Left behind me. 

You recall a blossom bower 

Where I found love's magic flower, — 

O the rapture of that hour. 

And the sweetness ! 
When the East was yellow flame, 
When to kiss me first she came 
Bringing me the joy we name 

Love's completeness. 

So I lift you to my mouth, 
In this garden of the South, 
For my lips are parched with drouth 

Long unbroken : 
Give me of your share of bliss. 
One remembrance of that kiss : 
All I ask of you is this 

Tulip token. 



F. D. S. 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Let me gently tilt you up 
To my lips once while I sup 
Fragrance from your crimson cup, 

And discover 
Once again the kiss I found, 
Once again the bliss that crowned 
Those two lips where sweets abound 

For a lover. 



F. D. 8. X X 1 



SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



A Florida Night 

The slender new moon seems as frail 
As thin ice 'twixt November reeds ; 

A bird-note from a distant swale 
Mounts and recedes. 

A wan moth dips across the dusk 
Like a magnolia's ghost, and then, 

Amid the scent of rose and musk. 
Is gone again. 

The dews gleam beryl-wise ; you come, 
Your hair caught up in amber strands, 

Life's bliss — its whole ecstatic sum — 
In your white hands ! 



X X 1 I C. B. 



SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



At Dusk 

The air is filled with scent of musk 

Blown from the garden's court of bloom, 
Where rests the rose within her room 

And dreams her fragrance in the dusk. 

Above, attended by her stars, 
The full moon rises, round and white, — 
A boat in the blue Nile of night 

Drifting amid the nenuphars. 

And now the whippoorwill who knows 

A lyric ecstasy divine 

Begins his song. Ah ! sweetheart mine. 
What shall love's answer be, my Rose ? 



F. D. 8. X X 1 1 1 



OUTHERN FLIGHT 



At Fort Marion 



Above the bastions and long, low beaches 
The clamoring ospreys poise and soar 

While the ramparts over the harbor reaches 
Gaze as they gazed of yore. 

In the cedar-trees by the ancient entry 
The mock-birds sweeten the gliding hours, 

But there's never the sign of a single sentry 
In one of the guardian towers. 

Gone the trace of each old commando 
The Spaniards sent to this shore of bloom ; 

The dungeons fashioned by Don Hernando 
Are peopled only with gloom. 

Tiny peace-flowers gleam in the grasses 
That green the width of the gaping moat ; 

War, with its bugles and marching masses.'' — 
Not the wraith of a note ! 



X X i V c. s. 



A SOUTHER X FLIGHT 



Only dreams by night of the olden 
Days when the doughty deeds were done ; 

Only dreams by day in the golden, 
Bland Floridian sun ! 



C. 8. 



SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



The Cathedral Bells 

SAINT AUGUSTINE 

High in the old cathedral tower they hung. 
Four ancient bells, the bronze arpeggio 
That called to prayer the gray monks long ago, 

And marked the hour while mass was said and sung. 

Over a land of fragrant flowers they flung 
Petals of music that were wont to blow 
Out of the rose of Time, whereof we know 

Naught save how sweet it is and ever young. 

Listen ! across the midnight comes their call ; 

Twelve in succession sound the bell-notes clear ; 
A day has gone ; another day, begun. 
I catch their message as the echoes fall : 

Vale Hispania ! Day of shadows drear ! 
Ave America ! Day of joy and sun ! 



X X V I F. D. 8. 



SOUTHKBN FLIGHT 



The Fortress of San Marco 

Gray as the gulls above, San Marco lies, 
Builded by Spain three centuries ago ; 
A star of stone — a star whose gleam and glow 

Are gone forever, blotted from our skies. 

Bastion and battlement before me rise 

Storied with memories of war's grim woe. 
But over them, in balmy gales that blow. 

Triumphantly the flag of freedom flies. 

Along the ramparts now the lizards crawl, 

Or lazily lie basking in the sun ; 
Beyond the moat the sea-tides lift and fall ; 

And while I dream of battles lost and won — 
Sudden a voice ! — and then I see him, small, — 

A Yankee bugler on a Spanish gun ! 



F. D, 8. 



X X V i i 



SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Night on the Sea-Wall 

Athwart the bay the Anastasia light 

Pencils a golden pathway up whose beams 
One might ascend unto the port of dreams, — 

Some vision-haven in the heart of night. 

In silvery syllables the tides recite 
Their luring lyrics, plaintive old-time themes 
Of days when hither, drawn by gold's red gleams, 

Spain winged her galleons on their far sea-flight. 

How hath the imperial aegis of her power 
Waned, as the wasted moon adown the sky ! 
Here all is changed, yet strange doth it befall 
That Love, of yore the monarch of this hour 
When lips to lips make passionate reply, 
Is still the sovereign of the old sea-wall ! 



IX vill 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



A Southern Balcony 

In the soft glow and glamour of the night 
I heard the sound of music down the street, 
A girl's voice singing some old ballad sweet, 

A song of love and all of love's delight. 

Above me hung the moon's great blossom bright, 
And swarms of stars like bees came forth to greet 
This bloom of wonder in its blue retreat, — 

This world-flower with a bosom lily white. 

Within the plaza drowsily the purl 
Of fountains fell upon the fragrant air, 
And I, aweary of the long, hot day, 
Slumbered and dreamed ; and still that singing girl 
Sang in her balcony, — and I was there 

With you, Sweetheart, a thousand miles away ! 



X X 1 X 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Dawn in Carolina 

The opal sky grew daffodilian 

With luminous presage ; the expectant pines 
Leaned orientward in long and silent lines, 

Then through their boughs a little murmur ran. 

It was as though the whole awaiting clan 

Spake each to each in whispers ; e'en the vines 
And pendant moss, that clings and intertwines, 

To thrill with some fine prescience began. 

There seemed a troubadour in every tree ; 

Trill answered trill, and run replied to run ; 
And when there burst a crowning ecstasy, 
Lo, adown corridor and colonnade, 
Piercing the shadow, shattering the shade. 
Sovereign in sudden imminence, — the sun ! 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



To A MOCKING-BIRD 

Thou feathered minstrel perched in yonder tree, 
Thou bird-magician in a blue-gray coat ; 
Trickster of tune, thou canst repeat by rote 

Thy rivals' songs and win their loves to thee ! 

Song-sorcerer, who canst with melody 

Lure us to listen, thou whose slender throat 
Is full of sweetness bubbling note by note, 

Wizard of music, sing thou on to me ! 

Chatter of blackbird, warble of the wren, 

Joy of the jay, and passion of the thrush, 

And every trill that ever bird has known,- 
I heard him jesting for awhile ; and then. 
Softly upon the morning in a gush 

Of lyric love I heard him call his own. 



^. D. 8. X X X 1 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Night Off Hatteras 

We saw the light-ship winnowing the west 
With its thin fan of flame, and from afar 
A beacon glimmered like a ruddy star 

Across the ocean's undulating breast. 

Here in this haunt that harbors storm for guest, 
Where currents join with roaring rush and jar, 
There was no sign of tumult, naught to mar 

The night's blue vastness and the sense of rest. 

Peace lay upon the waters ; o'er the sky 
Peace spread the visible aura of its wings ; 

It was as though the warring winds were awed ; 
We felt that from the void's immensity, — 
The brooding mystery that round it clings, — 
Leaned the Inscrutable whom we name God I 



X X X i i c. 8. 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



The Spell 

There is a garden of the South 

That lies along the sea, 
Kissed ever by the Summer's mouth, 

And sweet with melody. 

Around it runs a fragrant zone 

Of rose and jasmine blent, 
From whose bloom-builded bowers are blown 

Breaths of the Orient. 

The wonder-songs of mocking-birds 

Made for the day's delight. 
Are still remembered in the words 

Lisped by the breeze at night. 

Sweetheart, if you were here to grace 

This garden with your eyes, 
Eden were this enchanted place, 

Just next to Paradise. 



X I X 1 I 1 



A SOUTHEBN FLIGHT 



Morning by the Matanzas 

Swiftly the tides of the Matanzas run 
Racing to sea beneath the morning sun. 

The reeds a-row like shimmering spears-men stand 
Guarding the gray approaches to the land. 

One white gull swoops across the middle space, 
The animate embodiment of grace ; 

And pressing toward the shore, tree crowding tree^ 
The woodland treads with murk and mystery, 

Scarfed with the golden jessamine, and the plume 
Of the wild plum with its ethereal bloom. 

Such, so one dreams, was the strange wonder-spell 
Smote Ponce de Leon on his caravel 

Sweeping the radiant reaches, till, in truth, 

He deemed the land must hold the Fount of Youth 



xxxlv c. s. 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



In Absence 

It matters not how far I fare, 

Or in what land I bide, 
Your voice sings ever on the air, 

Your face shines at my side. 

For me each crimson flower that slips 

Its velvet sheath of green 
Yields the remembrance of your lips 

With all their sweets between. 

Your hair is in the dusk that lies 

Around me when I rest; 
My only stars are your dear eyes, 

Love's own and loveliest. 

Happy am I, though far apart 
From all that makes life dear : 

Love dwells contented in my heart, 
Exiled yet always near. 



F. D. 8. XXXV 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 

Then take my message, Sweet, and know 

How far your love has flown 
To cheer and bless your lover, so 

Lonely, but not alone : 

I send it from the drowsy South, 

A dream of my delight, 
A message to your rosebud mouth, 

A kiss, and a good-night ! 



X X X V 1 F. D. 8. 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Song at Daybreak 

Unto the portal of the Day there came 
A shining presence fashioned out of flame, 
And from that purple threshold of the world 
Arrows of fire across the shadows hurled. 

Into the forest, over plain and sea 
The darts in silence sped unerringly, — 
Lances of sunlight from the Morning's bow,- 
Until the firmament was all aglow. 

Then from the zenith suddenly J heard 
The dew-fresh notes of some enraptured bird. 
Lost in the golden labyrinth of light, 
Singing the dreams of the departed Night. 



p. D. 9. X X X V 1 i 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Nocturne 

About her while she slumbers 
Breathe, zephyrs of the night, 

And weave of lyric numbers 

Dreams that shall bring delight ! 

The secrets of the roses 
In fragrant whispers tell, 

Unto her who reposes, — 
A white pearl in its shell. 

Sing of the stars above her, 
Then once, ere you depart, 

Sing softly how I love her, — 
Dear keeper of my heart. 

And when the dawn has shaken 
The diamonds from the vine, 

From sweet dreams let her waken 
To find these arms of mine. 



xxxviii F. D. s. 



SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Serenades in the South 
I 

Dreams at midnight ! . . . Ah, my Sweet, 

Sometimes, i' the night's heart, I 
Catch the transitory beat 

Of a dream that wingeth by, 
Wrought of gold that seemeth spun 
( As your hair is) from the sun ; 
Wrought of flowers, their glow, their grace; 
(As your face is — ah, your face ! ) 
Be my dreams, then, still of you. 
For 'tis midnight dreams come true ! 

Dreams at midnight ! . . . Dearest heart. 

In the moon's mid-watches, I 
Sometimes out of slumber start, 

As a dream goes fleeting by. 
Fashioned from caresses such 
As I know are in your touch ; 
Holding all the perfect bliss 
Of your yet unmemoried kiss. 
Be my dreams, then, still of you, 
For 'tis midnight dreams come true ! 



C. 8. X X X 1 X 



A SO r THEE N FLIGHT 



II 

Lovers all who fondly stray 
Down the jasmine- wreathed way, 

Pluck the bloom and drain the chalice 
To the full while yet ye may ! 

Lyric lip and morning eye^ 
Hasten ere the dream goes by I 

Youth is fair but youth is fleet ; 
And ye may not mesh his feet ; 

Ah, but while the springal lingers, 
Life is luring, life is sweet ! 

Lyric lip and mortiing eye, 
Hasten ere the dream goes by ! 



X 1 c. s. 



OUTHERN FLIGHT 



Spring Song 

Voice of April, liquid clear, 
In the daybreak of the year ; — 
Spring's blue herald in the tree 

Caroling his heart away, 
Catch and madrigal and glee : 

Spring is here to-day ! 

Breath of April, redolent 
Of the attared Orient ; — 
Spring's faint whisper softly blown 

Through the green leaves on the spray, 
Making her glad message known : 

Spring is here to-day ! 

Feet of April, swift and light. 
Leaving all the landscape bright; — 
Spring's quick footfall on the ground 

Dewdrops on the grass betray ; 
Shine the tokens all around : 

Spring is here to-day. 



F. D. 8. 



Xll 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Face of April, fair its gleam 

As the young Year's waking dream ; — 

Spring's glad smile on earth and sky, — 

Silver mist and golden ray, — 
Shower and sunshine slipping by : 

Spring is here to-day ! 

Lips of April, how they shine 
Through the fretwork of the vine ! 
Spring's fresh kisses — each of them — 

Jewel bud or blossom gay, — 
Honey sweet on twig and stem : 

Spring is here to-day ! 

Heart of April, last and best, 
Beating fast against my breast; — 
Spring's own self ! Ah, Sweetheart true, 

Love no dearer words can say ; 
April is none else but you ! 

Spring is here to-day ! 



xlii 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



The Night Voyage 

Silent we sailed the phosphorescent seas, 

Our ship a bark with shadowy masts and spars, 

While gleamed o'erhead, in glorious galaxies, 
The phosphorescent stars. 

The breeze that breathed about us bore the balm 
Of coral cove and long land-locked lagoon, 

Where shines above the tall lianaed palm 
The Caribbean moon. 

A far off pharos from its hidden height 

Across the waters flung its beckoning beam, 

And so we glided through the violet night 
Bound for the bourn of dream. 



C. S. X 1 1 1 1 



OUTHERN FLIGHT 



The Message 

In a southern garden scented 

And sweet with the jasmine flower,. 
By the mocking-birds frequented 

In each blossom-builded bower, 
What a passionate outpouring 

From the fragrant boughs above ! 
And out to the northland soaring 

Go the lyric-songs of love. 

In the heart of one who hearkens 

Is a lover's lighted shrine, 
And never a shadow darkens 

This home of a hope divine, 
Where love like these birds rejoicing 

Makes melodious the place, 
While breathing her name and voicing 

His longing to see her face. 

O my Own, if song can find you 

In the northland where you are, — 
If the white snows do not blind you 

To a clear and steadfast star, — 
Let your eyes look forth in splendor 

And hark for your heart's strange beat, 
A dream with a message tender 

Is bound for your slumber, Sweet. 



X 1 I V F. B. 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



x( 



The Wind in the Palms 

The voice of the wind in the palms, 

What does it say 
In the sweet sunset calms 

At the dip of the day? 

■ Ever and evermore " — 
Thus doth it mourn, 
From shore unto uttermost shore 
By my fate I am borne. 

' Slave to a vast unrest, 

I may never abide, 
But am swept on an endless quest 

Like the toss of the tide. 

I long — how I long! — for peace, 
And the soothing of sleep, 

But my farings may not cease 
On the face of the deep ; 

' Nay, nor the face of the land, 

For fiercely afar 
Where the mightiest mountains stand 

Do I clutch at the star 



C. 8. 



X 1 V 



SOTrTHEB>' 



■■Th.i: r.:-::^5. die vauk's red thrall; 
And I know the soul, 
-\lone of adventurers all. 
Of :he ultimate pole. 

''So I. who would fain be one 
Wi:h quietude, 
-Axn doomed, until time be done. 
To the wandering mood.'* 

Thus saith the wind m the palms 

(List to their sway I ) 
In the sweet sunset calms 

At the dip of the day. 



I 1 V 1 



ji O r T H E B >' FLIGHT 



At Her Window 

Come to thy window, Love, 

And through the lattice bars 
Show me a fairer sky above 
With two more lovely stars : 
So shall the southern night 
Know new depths of delight. 
And I in dreams grow wise 
Remembering thine eyes. 

Come to thy window, Sw«et, 
And wide the lattice swing. 
That vagrant zephyrs may repeat 
What words my lips shall sing 
L nto your ears anew, 
L p from the fragrant dew. 
That all your dreams may be 
Like those that gladden me. 

Come to thy window, — Soft I 

Thy footstep light I hear: 
About me, silence ; but aloft 
A melody most dear : 
It is thy voice that fills 
The night's blue cup and spills 
Into the air the words 
The rose breathes to the birds. 



F. D. e. X iTll 



OUTHERN FLIGHT 



Come to thy window, — So, 

I glimpse the gleam of grace ; 
Rose of all roses now I know 
Featured in thy fair face : 
Now all love's joy is mine 
Save one heart that is thine. 
Dearest, my dream is this . . . 
Thy heart's beat and thy kiss 



X 1 V 1 1 1 F. D. 8. 



- fi r T H K H N y I. I 



The Silent Day 



All day from bole to live-oak bole 
A tenuous curtain of gray haze 

Spread, and sound seemed to lose its soul 
Throughout the woodland ways. 

No music murmured in the pine ; 

No tremor moved the wild plum bloom ; 
The bee within the jasmine vine 

Dozed, drunken with perfume. 

Then the west wind crept o'er the hill 
And just at sunset rent the veil; 

A mock-bird gave a lingering trill, — 
A choir took up the tale ; 

The very sod grew vocal, aye. 

The leaves became a lyric throng ! 

Earth throbbed with twilight ecstasy, 
And day went out in song. 



I 1 i X 



SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Longings 

Absent from you, I linger here alone, 
And all around me roses fresh and fair 

Girdle the garden with a fragrant zone, — 
Yet my Rose is not there. 

Morning and afternoon, the whole day long. 
The feathered minstrels in the boughs above 

Pour out their lyric hearts, yet in their song 
I miss the voice I love. 

And when the twilight's miracle is wrought, 
Studding with stars the sapphire of the skies. 

Into my dreams forever comes the thought 
Of two beloved eyes. 

Despite such days and nights, a something more 
My heart would have to make its joy complete 

Hasten, ye laggard Hours, unto her door. 
And bring me to my Sweet ! 



F, D, 8. 



A SOUTHERN F I> I G H T 



Dorchester Churchyard 

SOUTH CAROLINA 

Thorn-keen withes and briars 

The lonely garth enfold, 
Where the rathe spring lights her fires 

Over the matted mould. 

The only mourners there 

Are the moss that droops from the bough, 
And the mock-bird spelling the air 

With the pathos of its vow. 

The marbles are gray with grime, 

Sunken or cleft apart; — 
O despot hand of Time, 

Inexorable thou art ! 

Naught but a crumbling tower, 

Long since reft of its bells, 
Of the hamlet's ancient power 

With eloquent silence tells. 

All through the lonely night 

The Ashley lisps to its reeds, 
And that feathered eremite. 

The gray owl, slips his beads. 



C. 8. H 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Gone, — all of life is gone, — 
An empty and ashen husk ! 

Never a gleam of the dawn, 

Naught left but death and the dusk 



111 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Dorchester Fort 

SOUTH CAROLINA 

Below the river winds, the tide at brim, 
The water lisping low some liquid name; 

Above, the cardinal from limb to limb 
Flits like a scarlet flame. 

The gateway gapes ; there is no warder there, 

Unless it be a ghostly sentinel ; 
War and its red array are otherwhere; 

Here Peace has set its spell. 

Perchance a gay colonial cavalier 

By that rude port once basked him in the sun ; 
And haply yonder, with his scorn of fear, 

Walked dauntless Marion. 

Dreams ! fancy's tissue ! " do I hear you cry.^ 
"Why fill our ears with visionary themes.^" 
Go, tread the spot, then, if you will, deny 
It is a place for dreams ! 



1 i li 



SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



A Balcony Song 

Sweet, in your balcony above 

The garden's rose-hung bower, 

Surpassing any dream of love 

Your face looks forth, — a flower. 

Methinks on such a night as this, 

Long centuries ago, 
Leaned lovely Juliet to kiss 

The lips of Romeo. 

And these same stars which overhead 

Are listening to-night 
Heard all the tender words they said. 

And witnessed their delight. 

What wonder they so softly shine. 
For all they hear and see: 

Ah, Dearest, yield your lips to mine 
And give your heart to me ! 



1 i V F. D. s. 



SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



At Twilight 

A little shallow silver urn, 
High in the west the new moon hung; 
Amid the palms a fountain flung 
Its snowy floss, and there, above, 
With its impassioned unconcern, 

A hidden bird discoursed of love. 

I felt your hand upon my arm 
Flutter as doth a thrush's wing. 
Then tighten. Sweet, how small a thing 
Draws kindred spirits heart to heart ! 
More was that hour's elusive charm 
To us than eloquence or art. 



1 V 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Noontide 

Roses — ah, but the scent!— fair as the dawn is fairj 

A fountain murmuring, run upon rippling run ; 
^'Winter!" you say; nay! nay ! not with this wooing 
air. 
And that golden psyche there threading a dance in 
the sun ! 



Sunset 

Against a crimson sky the drooping plumes of the 
palm ; 
High in the west a star, — O the glamour and 
gleam thereof ! — 
And, somewhere hidden, a bird piercing the soul of 
the calm 
With the rapture of its song, its passionate burden 
of love. 



ivi 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Moonlight 



Mellow moon of the South, maiden of midnight glory, 
With your tenuous veil of orient amber spun, 

Ah, but you tell me still the same love-memoried story 
Of the asphodelian slopes, and the young Endymion ! 



C. 8. 1 V 1 1 



A SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



A Thrush Singing 

Perched on the topmost branch of yonder tree, 
Emblem of joy and its epitome, 

From his green minaret, in the noon's hush, 
Listen ! — the song of the muezzin Thrush ; 

Music wherein the sweetness of the day 

Is all transformed in some transcendent way,— 

Fragrance and color, glint of grass and dew 
Changed into melody and born anew; 

The Earth beneath him. Heaven's blue above. 
And Allah leaning to his lyric love. 



i V 1 I 1 F. D. s. 



SOUTHERN FLIGHT 



Bon Voyage 

While yet the Summer lingers 

Here in the drowsy South, 
With roses in her fingers 

And smiles about her mouth, 
I dare to breathe my passion 

To her that she may know 
My love for You, and fashion 

A lover's lyric so. 

Northward, some morning early. 

Her old path she will take, 
Leaving her footprints pearly 

With dewdrops in their wake ; 
Lighting the leafy places 

With fragrant flowers, and then 
Find where your lovely face is 

And whisper Home again ! 



1 ix 
F. D. s. 



The Southern Flight is done ; a dream-delight 
Our days beneath the stainless sky seem now ; 

The bar is cleared, the open sea in sight, 
And northward points the prow. 

Farewell, O dear beguilement ! We must turn 
From paths of pleasure and of soft idlesse, — 

From all the spirit-balm of unconcern, — 
To ways of ceaseless stress. 

The last palm fades till like a tiny hand 

It speeds us o*er the welter of the foam ; 

Our eyes strain forward toward the distant land,- 
The beckoning hills of home. 



This Edition of A Southern Flight printed by George 
William Broivning at Clinton Neiv York during the 
Summer of IQO^ consists of Tavo Hundred & Fifty 
copies ^th Tivel've additiofial copies on Japanese 
Hand-made Paper 

Number /(ho 

/ / • -^ '^ 



ACOPYOEL. TOCAT OIV 

OC: 18 i^U5 



OCT 21 !905 



